By Armin Baldwin
Iran is facing some huge challenges. It has to face the international community after its notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) admitted that it shot down a commercial plane by accident. However, it faces huge challenges on a domestic level too.
The people of Iran have made it very clear in recent months that they want regime change. They will clearly not accept anything less. Thousands of people have been killed or seriously injured in the past few months, during protests that started mid-November last year when the regime announced a massive hike in fuel prices.
The main opposition to the Iranian regime, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) has “Resistance Units” spread across the country. They have played a big role in organising protests, supporting the people and logging incidents such as deaths, arrests and casualties.
Resistance Units and brave people across the country have been taking to the streets in recent days to vent their anger. Videos and images on social media show the people burning down images of the recently killed commander Qassem Soleimani.
Qassem Soleimani was killed during the US drone attack on 3rd January. He was head of the Quds Force branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and has been involved with, or instigated, numerous serious crimes across the region. He has been responsible for repeated attacks on Camp Liberty / Camp Ashraf in Iraq where exiled members of the opposition resided for years. Dozens of dissidents were killed or injured.
Soleimani was also involved in the atrocious chemical attacks in Syria that shocked the world. His activities in Syria led to the nickname of the “child killer” because of the many Syrian children that died at his hands. He has also been involved with the death of 5,500 young Afghan men that were sent to Syria to fight on the Iranian regime’s behalf.
The Iranian regime has done nothing but spread misery at home and abroad. The economic situation in Iran has got to the stage where many people are living in absolute poverty conditions. Many people are unable to provide themselves with the most basic of amenities and the social infrastructure of the country is falling to pieces. All of this has been a result of decades of mismanagement, greed and widespread corruption.
The regime’s survival is dependent on the spread of chaos, terrorism and fundamentalism. It needs to expand its influence but it is failing miserably.
When Qassem Soleimani was killed, people in Iraq were rejoicing in the streets. Last year, protests in Iraq indicated that the people were fed up with Iran’s interference and they were expressly calling for it to leave the country.
The people of Iran, however, were unable to freely celebrate the news of the death of the country’s top terrorist. He was far from the national hero that the regime tried to portray. However, social media has overcome the regime’s propaganda machine and the will of the people has not been hidden or suppressed. However, it just remains for the people of Iran to be supported by the international community.
